'householes,' 'marine's young daughter,' and 'no one teaches girls'
from Householes
a collection of hybrid haiku poems inspired by the female voices of Veteran Caregivers
householes
with or without him
whenever he left
to go fight in the desert
spiders big as dinner plates
no foxholes, no blanks
no peace here either
marine’s young daughter
asked for a princess phone, got
a long cord instead
anchored at her father’s chair
no one teaches girls
to fall down with grace
coaches yell, Slide and Get Up,
Hey, You Are Not Hurt,
No Blood, Brush It Off.
when he falls down now
off the bed, wheelchair,
i try to grab him
i crash too, old knees.
Natalie Parker-Lawrence received her MA in Linguistics from the University of Memphis and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of New Orleans. Now a Training Instructor for the Caregiver Center at the VA Medical Center, she was an instructor in the Communication department at the University of Memphis for eight years and taught in Memphis-area high schools for forty years. Her essays and poems have appeared widely, and her nine plays have been produced in Tennessee, Illinois, New York, and Florida. Householes is her first book of poetry.
She lives in midtown Memphis with her husband and two dogs, but loves visits from her daughter, stepsons (three active US military), and their families. Natalie recommends the Elizabeth Dole Foundation.
